The AP story on yesterday’s Supreme Court opinion regarding race and jury selection discusses Justice Souter’s majority opinion (finding that prosecutors had illegally discriminated), and then makes this point in its discussion of Justice Thomas’s dissent: “Thomas, one of the most conservative members of the court, has opposed black defendants in the past and has voted against affirmative action.” Now, each point in that sentence is certainly true—Thomas is conservative, has joined opinions that were unfavorable to defendants who happened to be black, and has voted against affirmation action—but there’s still something offensive about that sentence, isn’t there? Imagine if the story had said: “Souter, one of the most liberal members of the court, has voted in favor of other black defendants, and he supports affirmative action.” Well, of course, it’s unimaginable.